INDIANAPOLIS – If the Pacers (26-28) want any realistic chance at locking up a playoff spot this year, taking care of the bottom feeders of the league is a must.
They did that on Wednesday night, beating the Houston Rockets, 132-124, in playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
Playing again without Myles Turner, the Pacers got out in the open floor and played from ahead for the entire night.
Caris LeVert led Indiana with 27 points. Malcolm Brogdon (23 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists) and Domantas Sabonis (22 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) both lit up the box score.
The Pacers led by 20 at halftime and staved off any Houston rally for the road win.
An unsung name for the Pacers on Wednesday was forward Oshae Brissett scoring 10 points in 10 minutes, as he plays on a 10-day contract.
Jeremy Lamb added 18 points in 30 minutes off the bench.
The depleted Rockets are now 14-41 on the season and dealing with a slew of personnel issues.
John Wall led all scorers with 31 points.
The Pacers have two afternoon road games left on this trip—Utah on Friday at 3:00 PM and Atlanta on Sunday at 1:00 PM
Three Things Learned
1. One Big Impact: For nearly two weeks now, the Pacers have played with just 1 big in their starting lineup. The results have been a torrid offensive pace, and continued struggles defensively. Indiana has played at an extremely quick pace as of late and the results have been there on the scoreboard. Of course, no Myles Turner in the lineup has really hurt the Pacers at the other end of the floor. In Indiana’s last 7 games, they’ve scored at least 130 in 4 of those games. Before this stretch, they had eclipsed the 130-mark just 3 times all season. These are the sort of things that Kevin Pritchard and management must weigh in the offseason when thinking about how to move forward with a Turner/Domantas Sabonis starting duo, knowing that Goga Bitadze has shown some more strides.
2. Winning The Road Trip: This three-game road trip is the longest span away from home in the final month of the season for the Pacers. They actually will only play consecutive road games one more time in their closing 18 games. With afternoon tilts against the Jazz and Hawks left, it’s so important for the Pacers to try and split those two. Ideally, the win over the Hawks would be the victory, given the tiebreaker still up for grabs in that head-to-head. It’s still amazing to see the Pacers have such a large discrepancy in home/road games this season. They are tied for the worst home record in the East (9-16) and are tied for the best road record in the East (17-12). After these two games, the Pacers will play 13 of their final 18 games at home.
3. Doug McDermott’s Future: An ankle injury has Doug McDermott’s availability for this road trip in question. What is also an unknown is where McDermott will be playing next season. While the Pacers have virtually their entire main group under contract for next season, the 29-year-old McDermott is a free agent. He could hit the open market coming off a career-season in minutes played and points scored. The Pacers will have a decision to make on a player who has certainly excelled under Nate Bjorkgren. Indiana doesn’t have a ton of cap space currently available for next offseason, so how they handle McDermott will be interesting to watch.
Pacers Upcoming Schedule
-@Jazz (Friday, 4/16, at 3:00 PM)
-@Hawks (Sunday, 4/18, at 1:00 PM)
-Spurs (Monday, 4/19, at 8:00 PM)
-Thunder (Wednesday, 4/21, at 7:00 PM)
-Pistons (Saturday, 4/24, at 7:00 PM)
Eastern Conference Playoff Picture
1. 76ers (38-17, .691)
2. Nets (37-18, .673)
3. Bucks (34-20, .630)
4. Hawks (30-25, .545)
5. Celtics (29-26, .527)
6. Knicks (29-27, .518)
Play-in Teams
7. Heat (28-27, .509)
8. Hornets (27-27, .500)
9. Pacers (26-28, .481)
10. Bulls (22-32, .407)
